#croods fanfiction

[titaniium999]

I GOT A

METAL SONIC FIC IDEA AT WORK.

ok ok look. basically. metal rebels again having become sentient and craving independence and runs away before eggman can reprogram the autonomy out of him again. and what does eggman do this time? instead of trying to get metal back or whatever, he builds a NEW metal sonic to replace him, and this one--instead of going after sonic and thinking of sonic as his inferior copy, eggman codes him to think the old metal sonic is his inferior copy and needs to be destroyed.

and so one thing about this is that metal sonic soon finds out what its like to be in sonic's place. having a copy of himself always out to destroy him. and it makes him feel disposable and replaceable even though eggman always told him 'you're my greatest creation'. and im just frothing at the mouth over this

[unspeakable-imagination]

Masterlist

Buy me A Ko-Fi, supporting me and my work is encouraging and makes me pump more I to the fanfiction machine!

Send in requests and find out what I write for here,

Links, muses, and the key below the cut.

Current fixations/muses: Hugh jackman, specifically as leopold or Logan, Pedro Pascal, especially as Mando/Din, Ryan Reynolds as Guy(free guy, not croods)/ Deadpool / Or Jerry hickfang, Avatar and Avatar TWOW, Depp's Jack Sparrow or Barnabus, OTher marvel heros, Once Unon A Time characters (like hook) and More, just ask!!

Key-

✨️Fluff

🔞NSFW/ 18+ content (MDNI)

🔥Angst

🌑series

Ideas

N/A

Marvel

Logan Howlett/Wolverine

🌑Cigar Smoke and Sleepless Nights

Parts One Two Three Four Five Six seven eight(in Works)

✨️Couch Cuddles

🔞Not Just a One Night Stand

🔥✨️ Not the Worst

✨️Early Mornings

SFW ALPHABET

🔞NSFW ALPHABET

🌑We don't have to Dance

Parts: One Two three(in works)

✨️🔞Second Chances do Happen

🔥Not My Girl |Wade x Reader x Logan|

Wade Wilson/ Deadpool

🔥Not My Girl |Wade x Reader x Logan|

Dividers and graphics by @saradika, @moosgraphics @cafekitsune @saradika-graphics

[aevyk-ing]

DreamWorks4Me

If you've seen the news, DreamWorks as a studio is going through a huge change. They're going to start outsourcing every movie from now on and laying off almost 50% of their staff.

This makes me really sad for them and their legacy, so I wanted to share with you my fondest memories of their movies. Feel free to do the same!:

I didn't have a The Road to el Dorado copy while growing up. My best friend and neighbor had one and we would have an afternoon snack in her home, watch The Road... and then play. This was one of the two movies we rewatched the most.

I've always loved Chicken Run. I had this huge poster of it, but threw it away when I had a nightmare where the chickens started jumping from it. I still think it's Aardman's best movie and the one with the best soundtrack (which was also my introduction to both Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell!).

I sort of remember how Shrek knocked it out the park. There was a before and an after in animated movies.

While a lot of people say it's a bad movie, I kinda like Sinbad. The adventure, the character design, the places and Eris, of course.

I like Puss since his first appearance in Shrek 2.

I really like Over the Hedge. The music is great and the concept interesting. I remember reading the actual comic strips in the Sunday newspaper and I still have some of them.

While Shrek the Third is not that good, I really liked Artie for some reason. That's why one of the characters from my book Gotxinka is called Artii!

I wasn't much interested in Kung Fu Panda at the beginning, but it grew on me. One afternoon, the second and third movies were on TV, so I watched the first one and then put the other two on TV, binge watching the three!

How to train your dragon was the movie that helped me out of my depression and got me into cosplaying, drawing fancomics and writing fanfiction. And also got me into watching almost everything in English.

I love Megamind and will be forever mad I couldn't watch in on cinemas.

I know people don't like it much, but I find the Puss in Boots movie enjoyable.

I really liked Rise of the Guardians and it's a pity they didn't make more stuff with those characters. I almost cosplayed Toothiana, but did a casual version of her instead.

I couldn't watch The Croods in cinemas either, but I watched it in English a while after and fell in love with it! It's so creative and the relationship of Guy and Eep is so sweet.

I did my hair like Astrid to watch HTTYD2. That version of her outfit is my favorite cosplay of her.

And, of course, Riders of Berk were the first series I watched in full English. I didn't have Netflix when Race to the Edge aired, so I would get up early to watch someone streaming it and I had a blast. I didn't know if I should watch Trollhunters, but I saw a video with Kelsey Grammer and I'm so glad I gave it a try! The show helped me in one of my lowest moments (like HTTYD had done years before).

[tobiasdrake]

The main difference between fanfiction and official works made by secondary creators is production value.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe is fanfiction. The Star Wars Expanded Universe is fanfiction. As is the Sequel Trilogy. The Dragon Ball Z anime is fanfiction. The Ten Labours of Heracles is fanfiction.

One day in an age long past, caveman Grug told a story to caveman Rokk about his great battle with a woolly mammoth. Rokk liked the story, but thought it would flow more smoothly if the mammoth hit Grug with its trunk. So he added that detail in later retellings and, on that day, fanfiction was born.

It's been a staple of human civilization ever since. Sharing fictions with each other, taking them in and reshaping them in our image, is the true nature of art.

...

Also Grug is a character from The Croods so that anecdote was fanfiction too. I tricked you.

[wolfcha1k]

hii, can u please recommend some feep fics?? thanku!😊

If you mean Geep, defs suggest fics by Quickspinner on fanfiction, they got some really good ones. You'll probably like my friend Noseflower's work on Ao3, they have a series of Croods fics set after Croods 2 called the Misadventures at the Betterman Farm [I think??] there, they have Geep in them. There's also fics by L0velytomorrow on ao3 too.

[chasoc]

About

She/her/they/them.

30s.

Canada.

I've been in fandom and writing fanfiction since the early 2000s. My favourite character is Bruce Banner, and I've written him in fics since 2011.

I'm conscientious, open to learning, and humble enough to admit when I've made mistakes. I value compassion and empathy, and I dislike dehumanization no matter the target. Yes, this includes the targets you're thinking about.

Write whatever you want. I have internet sense and I judge people on how they treat others, not what they do with fictional dollies. I have a lot of friends and family members who are into kink. Genderbending entails different narrative threads depending on if the characters are cis or trans, and not everyone will want to explore both, or find both sufficiently escapist. Characterization does not inherently indicate a writer's values. Et al.

All ships and preferences are welcome here, there is enough mooring space for all.

The first comic I ever read was Dark Reign: The List: Hulk.

I'm an asset artist in the TV, film, and ad industry.

I draw sometimes, but less frequently than when I was younger. I want to get back into it again.

My inbox is always open for questions and comments. I would love to hear from you! Anon is turned off because you know how tumblr gets these days, but I don't bite.

See my (non-exhaustive) list of favourite movies and music under the cut.

Movies

Atonement The Croods: A New Age Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Everything Everywhere All At Once Good Will Hunting Her Moneyball The Mummy The Lord of the Rings Film Trilogy Oculus The Prince of Egypt Soul Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse Spotlight The World's End Zodiac

Music

Adam Fielding Alessandro Cortini Caligula’s Horse Deftones Diablo Swing Orchestra E-Mantra Explosions in the Sky Frozen Plasma Geomatic IAMX Ivan Torrent Leprous Linkin Park Lunatic Soul Modwheelmood Neurotech Neuroticfish Nine Inch Nails Northlane Porcupine Tree Rishloo Riverside Steven Wilson Thornhill Tool Thank You Scientist Two Steps from Hell

[phantasmicfish]

My interests are so sporadic I will literally go from oh I love this clearly-made-for-children movie to straight up YES BLUDGEON HIM TO DEATH WITH THAT ICE PICK in two seconds

[salty-ironstrange-shipper]

Magneto: Splitting up is a bad idea, it's much safer if we stay together.

*Notices Gambit and Quicksilver standing VERY close*

Magneto: Except for you two. You need to be separate.

[fanficion-ideas]

It is absolutely incredible and utterly amusing how, if you check every barely existent fandom's ao3 works, there always will be that one fanfiction which is 34 chapters long and is incredibly well written and makes you wonder if the author is, perhaps, God

[wolfcha1k]

Its so good seeing other content creators join on to write stuff for Croods. Its been such a dry spelllll

i posted one of them!! i put this in the notes on it but it’s not long purely because i didn’t spend much time on it. i wanted to post this one so then i could post part of the very nsfw one soon because i didn’t really want my first fic to be loads of s** lmao

[writeyouin]

oho Bet. Guy from The Croods x Gender Neutral Reader where they were childhood friends/neighbors and they meet again at the "new world". (instead of Guy and Eek falling for each other they become friends) Sorry if it's weird to read, it's 3:30 am.

Guy Crood X Reader – The New World

A/N – Writing this fic was the only way I ever found out that there’s a Croods sequel in the works.

Warnings – None.

Rating – T

You hid in the bushes, cautiously watching the family before you as they violently tore hunks of meat of a huge bird. The speed and ferocity with which they ate was sickening, not to mention the gristle and fat that dripped grotesquely down their fronts. You had thought that you would be safe in the New World, never suspecting that cavemen would also find the way to it, unevolved as they were. Only one of the females looked anything closer to the evolution that had taken place in your tribe generations ago, but you doubted her intelligence was any better than theirs.

You wondered whether you ought to kill them; you had tried to communicate with cavemen in the past and it never ended well. Then again, it might not even be possible to take on all six of them. You were sure that you could kill the Alpha male with your speed against his strength. The other male would probably die of a self-inflicted injury in the heat of combat; he certainly looked dim enough. The alpha’s mate would hopefully be preoccupied with the fate of her son. It was the last three that worried you. The elder might look frail but she had to be tough to have survived so long. The young girl was clearly fast and strong, a combination of her parent’s best traits. That left the worst one of all; the baby. You had seen her bite the head clean off a lizard only seconds ago; she was clearly the most dangerous member of the pack.

Regretfully, you decided to abandon any thought of fighting, as well as that area of the New World. Perhaps you could make your home elsewhere, with the hopes that the cavemen wouldn’t find you.

“Ugh, that was delicious,” The alpha-male belched.

You slung your bow over your shoulder, tiptoeing quietly away, only stopping when you heard the girl speak. “Hey… where’s the leg I saved for Guy?”

‘Guy!’ Your breath hitched in your throat as you remembered your childhood friend. It couldn’t be him, could it? Was Guy a common name nowadays? The Guy you knew was as afraid of cavemen as you were. He wouldn’t travel with them, right?

On the slim chance that it was your Guy that the cavemen knew, you decided to stay and wait for him to come back to the pack. Coating yourself in mud to camouflage yourself and hide your scent, you hunkered down, clutching your bow tightly in case a fight should occur.

You continued observing the family, bemused when a fight broke out over who had eaten the last bird leg. You soon learnt that their names were Grug, Ugga, Eep, Sandy, Thunk and Gran, and together they were the Croods. Should a confrontation arise, their names might come in useful to diffuse the situation.

As the night drifted on and the Croods occupied themselves with stories for Sandy, you thought back, losing yourself in memories of when you and Guy were children.

“Help.” A sniffly voice on the verge of crying called from the bottom of a steep slope.

You poked your head over the edge, finding the new boy, whose family had just moved into the cave next door to yours.

“Hey,” Guy said upon seeing you. “Please, help me.”

You giggled upon seeing him fail to scale the shale wall, trying to reach you.

“You’re not supposed to play there, new boy,” You grinned.

“Okay, I won’t ever again. Now, get me out of here.”

“What’s your name?”

Guy stared up at you exasperatedly, “Come on, get me out.”

“I will, if you tell me your name.”

“It’s Guy.”

“Hi Guy, I’m (Y/N).”

“That’s not a name.”

“Neither is Guy,” You pouted.

“Yes it is, and you promised to help me if I told you, so there.”

“Uh huh,” You replied non-committedly, looking around for anything that might aid Guy. You lowered a long, withered stick down into the pit for him to grab hold of. Gratefully, he began climbing it, trying his best to be quick.

“You’re heavy,” You whined. “Hurry up before I drop you.”

Guy did his best to speed up, but with no footholds in the shale, he had only his arms to work with.

“How old are you?” You grunted through gritted teeth.

“Seven,” Guy groaned.

“No way. I’m seven and I’m not nearly as heavy as you are. You must be…” You paused, trying to think of the highest number you knew, “Twelve.”

“I’m not twelve! I’m seven, like you,” Guy insisted, finally reaching the top and dragging himself out.

You let him catch his breath before asking, “Now what?”

“I’ve gotta go home or my parents will worry. Are you coming?”

“I guess.”

With that, the two of you walked back to your adjacent caves within the tribe, talking the entire way back. Afterwards, the two of you became fast friends. Growing up together, Guy always shared his best ideas with you; his family seemed to be full of great thinkers. In return, you taught him the tribe’s way of hunting, camouflage, and how to mentally map out the terrain. You asked him once why he hadn’t learnt such important things from his old tribe, only to find out that he and his parents had been loners living in the wilderness until they came across your tribe.

In your early teenage years, Guy invented puppet shows, explaining the concept to you so the two of you could tell a story at the nightly gathering.

You giggled as you made a tiny old woman puppet on your hand bow. “The tribe will love this.”

“Yeah… The tribe will,” Guy said, thinking of how he had invented the puppets as a way to get closer to you than he normally would.

That night was one of merriment and wonder for the entire tribe. While you kept peeking around the boulder that acted as a stage to enjoy the audience’s reactions, Guy was watching you, preparing to ask you out before some other, braver tribesman did. After the show, when everyone was preparing to sleep, Guy finally plucked up the courage to ask you out, an action that led to what was simultaneously the best and worst night of your lives.

“You what?” You asked, trying to make sense of the rushed invitation Guy asked moments prior.

“Sometime, I mean, anytime you’re free, I was wondering if you uh, might want to go out with me,” Guy said slowly.

A grin spread across your face, “We could go now.”

“Now?! But it’s night time. There’s- There’s no light.”

“We’ll take torches.”

Uncertain about going, yet unwilling to lose his chance with you, Guy borrowed two torches from the communal fire pit. The two of you walked far beyond the edge of the tribe, into the wilderness where you could be alone together.

When the two of you reached the cliff, the two of you sat with your legs hanging over the edge. In a comfortable silence, bathed in moonlight you gazed up at the stars. Guy kept his eyes on you, smiling boyishly.

“(Y/N),” Guy murmured, drawing your gaze to his face.

Instead of speaking, he leaned forwards. You mirrored his action, relishing the way your foreheads touched, then your noses. Everything felt so intimate under the moon’s watchful gaze. Any second now and your lips would meet his, or at least they would have, had the ground not started shaking.  The two of you jumped up, backing away from the edge of the cliff.

“What’s going on?” You gasped.

“I don’t know. I-” Guy was interrupted by the distant screams that echoed through the previously peaceful night air.

“THE TRIBE!” You cried out.

You broke into a run with Guy close behind you, each of you struggling to keep your balance on the unstable ground. Trees began uprooting themselves as large fissures opened in the earth below.

You were nearing the screaming tribe when Guy roared, “(Y/N), LOOK OUT!”

He had warned you just in time for you to leap out of the way of a newly formed chasm that swallowed the earth where you were standing only moments before. Guy morosely called your name, painfully aware that the two of you were now separated.

“Don’t worry about me,” You called back. “Get back home, I’ll find another way to get there, I promise.”

Guy nodded assent and ran towards the tribe just in time to watch his family slowly die in tar and hear their last goodbyes. You, on the other hand, never got to keep your promise. The new terrain provided no way back to the only home you had ever known, and eventually you were forced to flee as fire, lava, and tar pursued you.

In the years of isolation that followed, whilst searching for a place safe from The End, you often thought of Guy, hoping that he had survived that terrible night. Now, you had been provided a chance to see if it was your Guy travelling with these Croods. You desperately hoped it was him, so you could finally know that your friend was safe, and maybe even put an end to the solitary life that fate had forced upon you.

The rancid smell of bog water intermingled with wet fur drew you out of your reverie. Suddenly on edge about a possible animal attack, you squatted into a fighting stance and readied your bow. A large carnivorous cat pounced through the surrounding foliage, launching itself at Grug. You prepared yourself to watch a bloody massacre that would lead to the Croods’ demise, but instead found yourself watching the creature affectionately groom Grug, purring the entire time.

Soon enough, more animals followed, one for each Crood so it seemed. You scowled, thinking that perhaps Guy was the name of Eep’s pet, but your expression quickly transformed into one of radiant joy as a man followed the animals. He was older, his hair longer, and there was some kind of odd creature hugging his waist, but there was no mistaking it; that was your Guy.

“Next time, it’s Thunk’s turn to walk the pets,” Guy said bemusedly. “There’s just no keeping them out of that stagnant water.”

Shouldering your bow, you wasted no time in getting up. You were still afraid of the cavemen, but if worst came to worst, you could always grab Guy and run.

“Uh hi, room for one more?” You asked awkwardly.

You immediately began to regret your choice not to get Guy alone as you were grabbed by several pairs of hands.

“WHO ARE YOU?” Eep demanded, pulling you in one direction.

“EEP, I’LL ASK THE QUESTIONS,” Grug reminded her, pulling you in the opposite direction. “WHO ARE YOU?”

“Can we all ask?” Thunk grinned. “Who are you?”

“Sweetie, this isn’t a game,” Ugga warned Thunk. “Hold onto Sandy before she eats the intruder.”

“I SAY WE RELEASE THE BABY,” Gran cackled wickedly.

Throughout the interaction, Guy had been entirely too shocked to say anything, but he finally stepped in, pushing himself between you and the Croods.

“Everyone, wait. This is (Y/N), the two of us grew up together. We- We know each-other.”

Reluctantly, Grug let you go, but Eep’s grip only tightened and you were faced with a barrage of ecstatic questions. “You knew Guy? What was it like growing up? Do you have ideas too? Do you make fire? How well do you know him? What’s the curvy string stick on your back for? Do you have a pet too? Were you being chased by The End? How did you find your way here? What do you-”

“Eep,” Ugga said quietly. “I think that Guy may want some time to catch up with his old friend.”

Eep fell silent, looking up at Guy, finding an expression of sadness and awe written on his face. “Oh, right, yeah. We’ll just leave you too it. Uh… C’mon Croods, let’s go for another pet walk.”

All of the group left except Gran who took a seat, waiting for the show to start. Grug quickly came back and put her over his shoulder; she grumbled cantankerously as he carried her away.

“So…” You said awkwardly, unaccustomed to talking to others after so long alone.

“So…” Guy parroted, having been caught completely off-guard.

“Cavemen?”

“Yeah,” Guy laughed nervously. “But they’re good ones.”

“And…our tribe?” You asked, hoping that Guy wasn’t the only one who had made it out.

He shook his head, “Gone. We’re all that’s left.”

“Oh…”

“(Y/N), I never stopped looking for you. I always hoped… I mean- and now you’re here and I don’t know what to say.”

“I know what you mean. I kept hoping if I travelled far enough, I would find you and now I have. So much has changed, where do we even begin?”

“Well… I suppose we could begin where we left off,” Guy said thoughtfully. “We tell each other everything that’s happened, no matter how long it takes and we learn who we’ve both become.”

Guy sat down on a log, offering you the space next to him. You sat down tentatively,

“Okay,” You said quietly. “That sounds good. You go first. Tell me your story Guy.”

Like my work? Buy me a coffee and earn preview of the next fic, or commission me on the commissions page.

[ilovescaredysquirrel2]

A Croodsy Christmas (The Croods fanfiction) - A Croodsy Christmas (on Wattpad) https://www.wattpad.com/1170362399-a-croodsy-christmas-the-croods-fanfiction-a?utm_source=web&utm_medium=tumblr&utm_content=share_reading&wp_uname=Thegameisruning&wp_originator=QydPZJ3WYaV2FLchS1UvMrEuv7C1teirKwoMEyMs5yYYIu1hpZ8ePaknqKfdhjoyS9wEkLE5EVBzxj%2F%2FYShzQGmOTJj1gu6tpXDkkIR9u%2FR1%2FKLUbOVBlbB2o8tUUKQq If you wondered why cavemen are celebrating Christmas I totally explained the whole thing

[imaginetonprincecharmant]

I posted 12 467 times in 2021

23 posts created (0%)

12444 posts reblogged (100%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 541.0 posts.

I added 9 955 tags in 2021

#supernatural - 2258 posts

#marvel - 2227 posts

#dean winchester - 1099 posts

#movie - 850 posts

#castiel - 763 posts

#fanart - 746 posts

#the 100 - 595 posts

#cast - 553 posts

#deancas - 483 posts

#bbc merlin - 381 posts

Longest Tag: 114 characters

#i mean instead of making hope the hero why not make rafael be useful for once and not just be background character

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

See the full post

10 notes • Posted 2021-03-11 11:20:27 GMT

#4

10 of my favourite fictional women for women's history month

Thank you to @together-is-my-favourite-place for tagging me 🥰🥰

1. Clarke Griffin [The 100]

2. Bonnie Bennett [The Vampire Diaries]

See the full post

14 notes • Posted 2021-03-10 14:21:13 GMT

#3

i miss destiel and the days when i was so sure they would be canon

19 notes • Posted 2021-07-23 22:05:27 GMT

#2

2020 Year in Review

Rules: answer some questions about 2020 and tag some people!

Tagged by @together-is-my-favourite-place thank youu so much and again happy new year to you ♥♥ ! 

Top Five Four Films you watched in 2020:

1. The Croods 2. Inception  3. Tenet 4. Clueless  5. Secret Society of Second-Born Royals

Top Five TV Shows in 2020:

1. Julie and the Phantoms 2. Avatar : The Last Air Blender 3. Merlin 4.How to get away with murder (the final omg 😭)  5. Supernatural (beacuase i choose to ignore the last 2 epsiodes ugh) 

+ mention special to the 100 one of my fav show but s7 make it so atrocious 😭

Top Five Songs/Albums of 2020:

1. Before you go by Lewis Calpadi 2. A lot of Miley Cyrus’s songs (like angle like you, never be me, hate me) 3. Julie and the Phantoms album 4. A lot of Taylor Swift’s song (like nobody no crime, exile, cowboy like me)  5. Lonely by Justin Bieber 

Top Five Books of  i read in 2020:

1. Destiny by Cecelia Ahern  2. Percy Jackson by Rick Riordan 3.  Cursed by Thomas Wheeler And that’s it 😭😭

Top Five Ten Fanfictions of 2020:

I especially read a lot of AU on twitter about spn and the 100 but here some fanfiction i’ve read on ao3 or wattpad :  1. French version : De la poésie pour les Poissons by Saturne (spn) English version : Poetry for fish by Saturne (spn) 2. Ensemble pour briller by StellaMuscia (soy luna) 3. Cap ou pas Cap ? Qui gagnera la partie by MickarolLumonFics (soy luna)

And i think that it! 

Five good/positive things that happened to you in 2020:

1. I completed my second year of law school :) !!   2. I celebrated my birthday with my friends on july that was fun 3. I helped one of my best friend to organize her birthday on september  4. I met one of my best internet friends and we live ont he same city ! 5. My little cousin was born in january ♥ he’s so cute ! 

Tagging and wishing Happy New Year 2021 with a lot of hapiness, healt, sucess and prosperity to :  @omniavincitamor @saveyoua-seat @reggietheghost @geekyogicheese @edwardalric @darkmisstressofunknown @cursedbycastiel @samwwinchester @kittens-and-skeleton-hats @i-heart-tyrus @ccstiel @bloodysteel @beth-cassidy @madisonreyes @multifandomfinex @robertsbarbie-archive @somewherewebelongg @octaviaskairipas @taylor-morley @you-are-important-nina @captain--steve--rogers @kingjackless @star-light-child @proudtobeadepphead @jory826 @superchocovian @isabellaskyliner @themoonandstarsinhereyes @aureganemerryl And i hope i don’t forget someone omg, thank you all for this year on tumblr ♥ !

21 notes • Posted 2021-01-02 13:55:02 GMT

#1

See the full post

41 notes • Posted 2021-01-30 11:40:57 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[wolfcha1k]

So this is actually fanart for a Guy x Eep fanfic by someone in my discord server named @l0velytomorrow. I tried making Eep 'glow' because she's pregnant ~ You can read her story here: archiveofourown.org/works/3006… "Eep is a couple months pregnant and has been fighting her morning sickness. What does Guy do to help?" God this angle was hard, I referenced tf out of Guy for that shot. His arm reaching for her face at such an angle was even more so. Also had a war with my head wondering if Eep's breast and belly would even be visable. Ded. Anyway, hope you like and check out Lovelytomorrow's story if you're Geep thirsty for content. She's got others planned so keep an eye out ~

[justanother-unluckysoul]

Get To Know Me

Thanks for the tag @kmomof4!

Three ships: Captain Swan, obviously. Amy and Ty from Heartland. Oh! and Fitz-Simmons from Agents Of Shield.

Last Song: Different Drum by The Phantoms.

Last Movie: ...The Croods 2. What can I say, I like kids movies lol

Currently Reading: Fanfiction. Just, so much fanfiction.

Currently Watching: Peaky Blinders.

Currently Craving: Doritos. My fave.

Tagging, if you want to do this (and sorry if you've already been tagged!): @piracytheorist @hollyethecurious @caught-in-the-filter @holdingoutforapiratehero

[kingofthewilderwest]

One of the major flaws of HTTYD 3 in comparison to its predecessors is how childish the movie felt. The first two movies had the occasional joke but were still extremely mature in their storytelling. Have you read the article "Dreamworks execs have an incredible reason for why their films are unpopular" ? It came out a year after the second movie, and explains why they dumbed down the third.

It’s an interesting article and I’ve always thought there was some truth in the opinion: to their detriment, DreamWorks’ latest films haven’t focused on the creatively wild, often more mature spark that made things like How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, Rise of the Guardians, Megamind, or The Prince of Egypt quality films. As the article writer notes:

Animated films, if anything, attract a much broader audience of older children, teens, and adults than they ever did in the Eighties and Nineties. Ironically, DreamWorks’s own films in the 2000s played a significant role in expanding the public’s perception about animated features. Now, DreamWorks is betting against its own history as they try to get back on track.

That said. Many of the earliest DreamWorks productions have a somewhat mature appeal to them, but I feel like DreamWorks has long played the game of wide audience appeal commercialism. For a period of time, they balanced their “artistic” or “venturesome” films against their “safer cash” films. The fluffier Turbo was released just one year before HTTYD2; Kung Fu Panda 3 and The Boss Baby were released a year apart, too. There was a sense of balance, letting the fluffier, probably more kid-appealing films earn money, while allowing them to take risks on more unique ventures. I’m not sure if that was their actual strategy, but regardless: balance of maturity. (And for the record, calling some DreamWorks movies “fluffier” is not intended to be an insult; I myself love their Mr. Peabody & Sherman).

And I think the reason I was so hardcore on board the DreamWorks train is that, whether it was an ill-conceived mistake (Shark Tale) or a big “what the fuck” (Bee Movie) or feeling somewhat adult (Antz), DreamWorks was willing to take those risks. DreamWorks was willing to be quirky. And DreamWorks was willing to put heart into everything; Mr. Peabody & Sherman definitely has heart to it, as does Home, as does Turbo from what I remember (only saw that one once).

I feel like advertisements for Trolls and The Boss Baby is where my friendship circles started to feel less enthused about DreamWorks. At that point, I saw some trust failing for DreamWorks’ creative direction - that DreamWorks was dumbing down their movies for children rather than making fluff family films with heart. The key phrase is “dumbing down.” There’s a huge difference between writing children’s stories and dumbing down for children. And that’s what this article writer was calling out, too.

Ghibli movies are written for children. Disney 2D animated films bring awe to children. How to Train Your Dragon understood that lots of its audience members would be children. But you breathe life into a quality story that children and adults can enjoy! Making a bunch of crappy jokes dumbed down to children is stuff like... at its worst... Norm of the North. When you’re making something shoddier, with half-assed fart jokes, because of an implicit idea children’s media doesn’t have to be as quality... because children allegedly aren’t going to notice quality... that’s where we run into problems.

Now, I’m not going to say whether or not I think DreamWorks has actually begun dumbing down its films. I know that’s the impression in my peer group. I know that’s an impression I’ve felt inside my heart, too. But I haven’t seen Trolls or Trolls World Tour or The Boss Baby so I can’t judge. But I think it’s safe to say there has been a gradual shift over time. And that escalated post-2014, where we got this from DreamWorks execs:

…the company's slate changes are more realistic/in-tune with the evolution in changes in the box office market as the 2012-2014 film challenges were tied to films which skewed older right as the box office began to see changes whereby animation demand was increasingly skewing younger as kids began to age out of the genre earlier. While we view the ability to reduce P&A as more difficult given the need to advertise to two distinct groups (kids and moms), the combination of both cost reductions in production and a younger skewing slate, do position the slate better in our view.

And my impression is it’s escalated lately (but I only have a small sample size of films, so I take what I say with a grain of salt). I remember during the NBCUniversal acquisition in 2016, fans feared DreamWorks would lose its sometimes mature, sometimes quirky heart. That the company would be in a downfall state for quality.

I had hoped that HTTYD3 might be a bastion against efforts to commercialize with cash-easy, not-as-heart-ful “kid” appeals. THW grossing a lot of money could help leadership remember that diverse audiences, not tiny children, can and do watch animated films - 3D animation’s just not a guaranteed success because it’s a more saturated market. It could at least let the tradition of some DreamWorks gutsier creative films perpetuate.

And I do think that THW doesn’t have as many problems as, say, The Boss Baby probably does, when it comes to “kid-specific appeal”. I feel like the tone in THW has a middle ground. THW was never going to be as dark as HTTYD2; DeBlois made that clear since the release of HTTYD2; but I do think there might have been an effort to lighten tone in places (ergo the large number of gag jokes that cluttered the film). There’s absolutely mature ideas inside THW: the concept of parting ways with someone you love because it’s better for both of you... that’s meaty... that’s something that even adults grapple with. Hiccup’s flashbacks with Stoick have the simple but in-depth storytelling mood I know of the How to Train Your Dragon brand. So I would phrase it as it’s not a case of complete dumbing down so much as it is some imperfect tonal choices and plot focuses (too much spotlighting on the Light Fury romance, for instance, and not weeding out an excessive amount of jokes... that again... cluttered the film). The first two HTTYD movies feel like carefully honed storytelling, capturing the essence of what their story needed. The third needed tonal and content reorganization. The presentation of stakes and plot progression weren’t on par with the first two films. The Hiccup-Toothless separation didn’t pack a hard punch to me because the steps we took to get to the end weren’t the tonal footsteps we needed.

There’s a reason I charged to theatres the weekend Abominable released (mind, this was before the map controversy over the film came out). I was hoping Abominable could be a DreamWorks film with art and heart. And you know? I think that Abominable was one draft short of being *INCREDIBLE*. The problem is it was one draft short. It stayed superficial instead of diving into the meat. The plot pacing was slow because we didn’t get into the meat, the characterization felt awkwardly paced and whiplashy because it didn’t get into the meat, and the humor felt childish rather than taking full advantage of things like character relations. But the inside heart - the inside potential - of Abominable is monumental. It’s still not a bad film! If they’d gotten that next draft, Pearl and DreamWorks could have had a piece on par with Megamind and The Croods. I absolutely believe that. If I had time, I would rewrite Abominable in fanfiction and show how much potential this thing had.

DreamWorks is no longer a young studio exploring whatever the crap it wants because it’s the new guy finding his voice or rebelling against the other voice. DreamWorks is an established powerhouse. And with establishment comes a certain degree of safety-playing and standardization of content. I don’t expect we’ll get as many wild tone shifts as Bee Movie (11/2007) to Kung Fu Panda (6/2008) or How to Train Your Dragon 2 (6/2014) to freaking Penguins of Madagascar (11/2014).

That’s not to say DreamWorks does or doesn’t make quality films. I admit I don’t have high hopes on some things like The Boss Baby 2. I do have my fingers crossed for The Wizards of Once; I hoooope that DreamWorks can treat TWOO as they did HTTYD... something with simple, powerful, overflowing, artistic heart.

Who knows. Guess we’ll see.